It's Shoe Time
by Luki Dimension
Summary: The first time he'd spotted the blue slippers with bells on, Jack had just raised his eyebrows and sent them packing along with North's musical procession. Unfortunately for Jack, North's elves are nothing if not determined.


_Seen this movie twice and really wanted to write fic for it. However, a lot of ideas I had seem to be getting written by writers who are taking said ideas and doing far better fic than I could with them. However, not wanting to just give up, decided to open up a document and see what came out. This was the result, hope you enjoy._

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**It's Shoe Time**

The first time he'd spotted the blue slippers with bells on, Jack had just raised his eyebrows and sent them packing along with North's musical procession.

The second time he'd been at the Pole, he'd seen the elves peering round the corner, a touch of blue in their arms. But with the loss of Sandman, even they had known not to come too close. The few that didn't have that sense were soon sent flying with a warning shot of frosting.

The third time, they'd defeated Pitch and returned to the Pole to celebrate. While North pushed him into a seat at a ridiculously large table, and he'd been distracted by both the other Guardians, and the Yeti's bringing hoards of food – everything from traditional Christmas fare to vegan salads to just about every cold dish that Jack could name - that he'd barely noticed the tickling at his feet.

He'd just been about to try gazpacho soup, when he finally registered the tugging and tinkling sounds underneath the table, and looked down to spot three elves trying to hold his foot still as they plonked a blue slipper over his right toes. The winter sprite frowned, and grabbed his staff - put to the side at the Yeti's insistence. Almost instantly, the shoe, and the two elves unfortunate enough to be holding it, froze. The other elf had just enough time to look up and smile nervously before fleeing. Jack had rolled his eyes, flicked the shoe off, and then curled his legs up under him out of sight for the rest of the meal, pointedly ignoring the looks given to him by the other Guardians.

One would think, that after, the elves would take a hint. However, they apparently had worse memories than goldfish. Every single time Jack found himself at the pole; there was at least one of the little terrors holding the dreaded footwear. Why they were so obsessed, he had no clue – they wore those stupid open toed sock-things, and they never bothered the Yeti's or Bunnymund.

He kind of wished the Guardian's would meet up somewhere else on occasion – but at the end of the day, only North's workshop was really designed to cater to guests. The Warren was borderline impossible to navigate, and the Tooth Palace was really designed for the smaller fairies – Tooth's requirements taking up only a tiny spot in the magnificent structure. As for Sandman...well, Jack had been told he DID have some Sand island of sorts, but it was in a hotter part of the planet than the frost sprite was generally comfortable with. So they used the pole, and old St. Nick would just have to get used to frozen elves.

On the plus side, if North ever got a letter requesting a Garden Gnome, Jack was giving him plenty of models to work with.

It all finally came to a head on Christmas Day. Despite Christmas being North's busiest ("only!" Tooth was happy to add) night, it was also about family – and for North, that was the Guardians. And now, that apparently meant Jack too. And he certainly wasn't about to pass up going to a festive occasion where he was not only invited, but actively wanted.

The elves had been a no show most of the meal and celebration, and his guard was somewhat down when evening came upon them. All five Guardians were lounging on comfy chairs, each clearly designed for their user. Jack had been unable to hold back the laugh when he saw the armchair carved completely out of ice with frosted pillows. He'd never sat on anything comfier, and collapsed with his head on one rest, legs crossed over the other, and let his guard down completely...so was caught off guard by the tugging on his hoodie. He opened one eye, and winced.

Three elves were crowded by his chair, and holding up an elaborately wrapped present, smiles slightly strained, and Jack groaned. Judging from the not-particularly-well-hidden smiles on the other Guardians, they knew exactly what was in the box.

"Really?"

"Jack" North soothed. "It's Christmas, and bad manners to refuse a gift."

"Don't want to go back on the naughty list again do you?" Bunnymund snickered.

Jack sighed and righted himself before plucking up the present. The elves immediately stepped out of staff-range, and the frost sprite opened up the gift. Despite knowing exactly what was inside, it had been a long time since he'd actually been given a present, and he couldn't help the smile creeping on his face.

The sound he made when he finally pulled back the wrapping and pulled out the dreaded slippers was part laughter, part exasperation. He gave a cockeyed smirk to the elves, who were still stepping back warily, and held them up.

"Thank you. This is very...thoughtful of you."

And immediately put them back in the box and tried to slip them to the side, but Bunnymund was having none of it.

"Oh no no no mate" he laughed. "There's etiquette for this. You get clothing as a present, you have to wear it."

North laughed. "I'm afraid Bunny is right Jack. And it would them so happy."

The elves grinned, spurred on by their boss's approval, and Jack sighed.

"Fine...but just so you know, this is a bad idea."

He sat down and set his staff to the side before roughly pulling on one, then the other before standing. Whether it was the sight of the blue slippers on the boy's feet, or the tinkling sound of the bells, Bunnymund immediately lost it, bursting into laughter and collapsing on his chair. Tooth was a little more graceful, but couldn't quite hold back the giggle, and the elves were cheering. Jack however, was focused on his feet.

"And in three...two...there it is."

The laughter immediately silenced as the shoes shone with frost, and then became encased in thick layers of ice, looking more like icebergs than shoes. Jack winced and tried to take a step, only to slip on the iced footwear, crashing to the ground.

"I hope you've got a chisel and a hammer handy North" Jack said. "Took me three hours and two good knives to get them off last time."

Tooth, who had immediately flown to his side when he fell, quickly helped him up and back into the chair.

"Jack, what did you do?"

"Nothing!" Jack replied. "Well, not intentionally anyway. It just happens whenever I try to wear shoes. Or gloves, and boy wasn't _that_ a fun experience..."

All four Guardians had drawn closer to him, and Jack shrugged.

"Look, normally I need my staff, but that just channels my power in a way I can control it. Winter is _in_ me, and its likes to be able to get out, whether I want it to or not.

He pulled at the collar of his hoodie, drawing attention to the frost littering the fabric. "You have no idea how many shirts and cloaks and jumpers I have gone through – I lose control for a little bit or lean my staff in the wrong way and boom, big ol' icy hole and I need a wardrobe change. Finally figured out the best way to stop it from happening was to give it an outlet. I found the easiest way was through my feet and hands – my hands just channel it into the staff, but my feet need to be touching the ground."

"So...when you try and wear shoes..." North started.

"Winter incarnate sets upon them and does...this" Jack finished, gesturing as his feet, clinking them against the ground for good measure.

North sighed, and turned to the elves, who looked absolutely heartbroken.

"You three! You go get my toolkit, on the double!"

The elves, happy for the excuse to get away, bolted, and North shook his head, turning to stare back at rookie Guardian.

"You should have told us" he chided. "I would not have let them bother you so had I known you had good reason."

Jack just shrugged again. To be honest, explaining himself hadn't even occurred to him. 300 years of mostly isolation didn't do much for your communication skills. And frankly, he didn't see why he needed one – now he had his memories back, he could quite happily state he'd never worn shoes. When he was human, they hadn't really had the money, and he'd gone without so his sister didn't have to. By this point? Even without this issue, shoes were just plain _uncomfortable_.

When the elves arrived with the toolkit, North had plucked the tiniest little tool from his collection, and studied the ice with a critical eye, before aiming the chisel and giving a tiny tap. Centuries of ice sculpting resulted in the ice shattering instantly, freeing the shoes. Jack immediately grabbed them both, ignoring the crunching sounds from the residual cold and yanked them off, putting them back in the box now far worse for wear.

"Well, least now the elves will have to find a new victim to accessorise" Jack mused, almost disappointed that their attention would now be directed elsewhere. Dark chuckles brought him back, and he eyed up the four Guardians with wary eyes.

"...What did I miss."

Bunnymund slipped round and tossed an arm around Jack's shoulders. "Oh mate, you think they're done after a year? You should be so lucky."

Sandman grinned, little images of jackets and scarves and hats popping up above his head, and North laughed.

"My elves may not be great toy makers, but they do love to make clothes! All of us have been subject to their attentions. Scarves for Sandy, ball gowns for Tooth-"

The Tooth Fairy blushed at the memory of those days.

"-and jackets for Bunny."

The rabbit groaned. "Oh I'm having flashbacks. Save me from Gok Wan imp wannabes."

"It's been years since they've had a new model to lavish with attention. I hope you can humour them for now."

"Ten bucks says frostbite ices the whole lot of them by the end of the night!" Bunnymund cackled, and Jack raised an eyebrow. Surely the little devils couldn't be that ba...

That thought was immediately quashed when a handful of elves appeared in the door again. This time, holding up a very blue and crown shaped hat...

...what had he gotten himself into?


End file.
